No, the KKK Is Not Invading Mizzou

Racism and rumors at the University of Missouri

Payton Head, the University of Missouri's student body president, posted on Facebook that the KKK had come to campus, and black students were advised to stay indoors, away from windows. He claimed he was working with the campus police department, state troopers, and the National Guard to address the active threat.

The warning was unnecessary, false, and eventually retracted. Head later copped to circulating a baseless rumor, according to The Blaze:

I'm sorry about the misinformation that I have shared through social media. In a state of alarm, I was concerned for all students of the University of Missouri and wanted to ensure that everyone was safe. I received and shared information from multiple incorrect sources, which I deeply regret. The last thing needed is to incite more fear in the hearts of our community. In the future, please receive emergency updates from MUalert.missouri.edu or @MUalert on Twitter ONLY.

While there certainly seem to be some genuine occurrences of racial animus on campus yesterday—as well as an actual threat of violence, made by a non-student who was 100 miles away and quickly apprehended—the situation at Mizzou is beginning to exhibit qualities of a moral panic. In some cases, it's difficult to sort out the rumors from the actual instances of racism; no one wants to seem skeptical of, or indifferent to, acts of intolerance against minorities, who shouldn't have some unreasonable burden to prove their pain is valid. At the same time, false rumors are circulated on the internet constantly, and journalists have an obligation not to become ensnared by them. (One of the incidents that kicked off the protest against President Tim Wolfe in the first place seems increasingly dubious.)

Meanwhile, a professor was widely ridiculed for refusing to cancel classes for black students who feel unsafe, but his full statement on the matter hardly seems offensive:

Editor's Note: We invite comments and request that they be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of Reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment for any reason at any time. Report abuses.

Indeed, nothing is ever a lie, nor a joke, even in poor taste, if you believe it, and in this regard we should make it clear that the injection of inappropriately deadpan satire or “parody” into the current situation at U of M would be grounds for immediately calling in the police to reestablish order on campus. Compare the excellent precedent set by NYU officials, diligently acting together with Manhattan prosecutors in America’s leading criminal satire case, documented at:

It’s worth noting that Payton Head is also responsible for one of the three allegations (none of which have thus far been supported by ANY sort of evidence whatsoever) that lead to this whole exercise in insanity.

Even if it were true, what is anyone supposed to do about it? Whatever is left of the KKK these days doesn’t seem to go around shooting black students who get too close to their windows. Barring actual violence, they are just another group with the same rights to expression and assembly as anyone else.

Nah, Tony’s actually been quite consistent on this. He gives the board (and libertarians in general) grief for know-nothingism when it whines about intersectionality, microagressions, and other SJW-studies jargon but has been nothing but derisive towards the campus speech police.

These people probably don’t buy the figures published by the FBI on Klan membership. I imagine they believe there’s a hidden majority of white southerners who morally or actively support Klan activity or similar.

I’m 100% skeptical because the NAMs on campuses who flip out over this kind of nonsense are a bunch of liars and crybabies. And I’m indifferent to the “real events”, rare as they are, because the “real events” are damned trivial: someone yelled from a passing truck (maybe, probably not)….wow.

He warned the black students to stay away from windows. How patronizing, condescending, and fraidy-cat!

The best thing to do if the KKK shows up is for EVERYONE to get out there and jeer at them. Whites to show they don’t agree, non-whites to show they aren’t afraid. Staying indoors is the worst possible reaction. Even just going about normal business and utterly ignoring them is better.

But for this clown to think he has to tell the blacks how to react is just pathetic. Fucking nanny.

That’s what I keep saying. All of this fear and weeping and freaking out at stupid, deliberate provocation (assuming any of the reported incidents even happened) is just giving asshole racists what they want. They are developing this complete fucking fantasy that they are under siege or something. You’d think we were one step away from reinstituting slavery from the way some people are behaving.

“…no one wants to seem skeptical of, or indifferent to, acts of intolerance against minorities, who shouldn’t have some unreasonable burden to prove their pain is valid.”

This unreasonable burden you speak of, does it mean that completely unsubstantiated and unevidenced claims of marauding white guys in pickup trucks yelling racial epithets on campus should just be taken at face value?

(One of the incidents that kicked off the protest against President Tim Wolfe in the first place seems increasingly dubious.)

The incident with the student government president being called an N from a passing pickup is also highly dubious. The incident that isn’t dubious was a drunken student making racial comments to a group of practicing performers, although no report I’ve seen describes what he actually said. So instead of a series of racial incidents there was one incident of unknown seriousness for which the person responsible is reportedly being expelled.

Once you understand the circumstances the claim that there is some sort of deficient response to racial incidents is obviously wrong. It’s too bad Wolfe didn’t hang on for a few weeks and cause their football team to self-destruct.

“Once you understand the circumstances the claim that there is some sort of deficient response to racial incidents is obviously wrong”

Even if all of these “incidents” were true and well-substantiated…. they STILL wouldn’t amount to any kind of ‘pervasive race-problems’ that would demand urgent, decisive action by public university administration.

unless, “Drunk guys say racist shit, and there’s a swastika in one of the toilets” is supposed to be understood as something that a school of 35,000 is unable to cope with without candle-light vigils & suspension of classes so that students can seek psychological counseling.

That’s what is really nuts here. Even if you accept all of the stories at face value, it’s still pretty much a whole bunch of nothing. If students were responsible for any of the “incidents”, then maybe they should be punished by the school. Otherwise it’s just some (constitutionally protected) ugly words and perhaps some extremely minor vandalism.

Man, I ought to start counseling for these fragile children. I could make a fortune, and, apparently, never run out of clients. Hundred dollars an hour, the Feds would pay for it, and I could retire in months. Of course, I’d have to listen to all that whining.

If any of these children were forced to deal with real oppression or real aggression instead if this fairy dust shit that sends them into curl up in fetal position mode, they’d melt away like the insubstantial snowflakes that they are.

It’s going to be like a giant derp bomb with derp fallout spreading everywhere. It’s gonna be derpfuckingtastic.

The KKK will be appearing everywhere, suddenly, out of nowhere. They’ll be like magic, they’re everywhere! White hood sightings on the increase! Look, there went a bunch of them in the back of a pickup truck, with rebel flags on it! Close the schools! Close the schools!

To be honest, and maybe this is wishful thinking more than anything else, I don’t think that’s true. After years of intense efforts to promote extreme racial and sexual sensitivity, they’ve managed to knock the block off a few administrators, cannibalize their own ranks, make any students not in the social justice clique very wary of dealing with them, and generally piss off the rest of the country. I think we’re seeing the high-water mark of their movement, but the shine’s certainly coming off. And in a way that’s a shame: as absurd and repugnant as it is for us, it’s a backlash against an institution we’ve come to despise and its obnoxious socialist aspirants. We’re watching the breeding grounds for anti-capitalist thought being eaten from the inside out, but the universities will outlive the festering social justice infection.

I don’t think we’re even close to the peak of this. They are extremely emboldened right now and they’re smelling blood. It gets worse from here, much worse. All of this is great for the liberty movement of course. Our foes proving to the entire world that they are not to be taken seriously? What’s better than that? And we don’t have to do anything, just get the popcorn and beer, sit back and watch them self destruct.

Look, these people aren’t serious anti-capitalists. They fight for the right of bourgeois liberals to never feel uncomfortable. Of course, they would probably say they don’t like capitalism, but that’s only because they understand that that is part of a general leftist platform of views. Don’t lump all people who oppose capitalism with these idiots.

Am I missing something or is this whole thing just an extension of the same baseless racialism and sexism that has been peddled by the far left on campuses for my entire lifetime? And if so, it seems rather disturbing that this nonsense has gained any traction whatsoever. Can someone explain to me what the fuck these people are actually complaining about and how they have been victimized? If this whole mess can be boiled down to “micro aggressions” and “because feelz” then it confirms a rather large segment of our population is intellectually bankrupt and emotionally retarded.

Even if these very-few things they cite were true, they don’t appear to amount to anything other than the low-level-background-noise of a diverse community where there’s bound to be a few racist douchebags lurking on the fringe. It does not an “Unsafe Space”-make by a long shot.

I made this same point the other day =

if you think the Missouri student’s claims have any rational merit, then you’d have to equally believe that H&R commentors had some right to demand that Nick & Matt be fired from their editorial-positions because of that one guy “American” who used to show up and say racist shit once a month.

“Am I missing something or is this whole thing just an extension of the same baseless racialism and sexism that has been peddled by the far left on campuses for my entire lifetime? And if so, it seems rather disturbing that this nonsense has gained any traction whatsoever.”

When the baby-boomers were inflicting this shit on their elders, it was different.

This time, the baby-boomers are in charge–not their more conservative elders.

It’s like the baby-boomers raised a generation of conformist Red Guard, who are now launching a Cultural Revolution. They’re using public apologies, public humiliation, and they’re successfully making administrators lose their jobs. The police are helping them identify and intimidate people for speech “crimes”.

Yeah, I think it’s different this time.

All that “What about the children” bullshit we complained about for so long, that’s all coming home to roost. The anti-bullying, etc.–they’re taking that with them into adulthood. These are not children who want to be treated like adults. These are adults who want to be treated like children–and want the rest of us to be treated like bullies by the authorities. That’s different.

Well thinking that cops are on their side is a foolishness that is almost beyond parody. The cops are on the side of the COPS and no one else. We all know that. The cops are looking for an opportunity to break some heads. And guess whose heads that will be? The foolish students, that’s who.

These people are not serious Marxists in any sense of the word. Maybe you can use the term “cultural marxism”, and that might be fair, but look these are the same people that will chastise a Marxist for being an “economic reductionist” and for focusing too much on the plight of poor people in general and not catering solely to the interests of a narrowly defined hierarchy of pet victims.

Am I missing something or is this whole thing just an extension of the same baseless racialism and sexism that has been peddled by the far left on campuses for my entire lifetime? […] If this whole mess can be boiled down to “micro aggressions” and “because feelz” then it confirms a rather large segment of our population is intellectually bankrupt and emotionally retarded.

What is this horseshit about minorities “shouldn’t have some unreasonable burden to prove their pain is valid?” Since when is anyone entitled to have their supposed pain “validated?” The question is whether one person owes a duty of care or conduct to a fellow human being which has been violated, whether any cognizable harm resulted, and what the remedy for that harm should be. Nobody is entitled to have their subjective “pain” be deemed “valid” simply for validation’s sake.

If a student, minority or otherwise, is denied a right, benefit or entitlement to which he or she is entitled, he or she should receive redress. But there is absolutely no reason why someone who subjectively feels some general, unspecified “pain” is entitled to have that feeling “validated.” Particularly when the person demanding validation is the sole judge as to whether he or she has been “offended.”

Demanding validation – exactly. They want to be treated like something special. Many years ago, one of my buddies had an apartment. The group who hung out were all in college so we were around 21 years old. This very cute 16-year-old girl found her way over. We knew that getting involved with her could be trouble. One day she got mad at us because we treated her like anyone else who came around and not like she felt a very cute 16-year-old girl should be treated.

“No one wants to seem skeptical of, or indifferent to, acts of intolerance against minorities, who shouldn’t have some unreasonable burden to prove their pain is valid.”

There is nothing wrong with hoping that the incidents of racism didn’t really happen.

And we’d have to forget a number of incidents over the years in which people (maybe well intentioned!) manufactured racist incidents that didn’t really happen to generate sympathy, political support, etc.

From Tawana Brawley to Crystal Magnum and the Duke lacrosse team, people sometimes make up stuff for various reasons. There was also the lady that called in claiming to be an under age bride at the YFZ ranch. It was a hoax!

Being skeptical and indifferent to alleged acts of intolerance against LEFTIST minorities is currently the only rational response. It’s been proven time and time again that lefties will make up events out of whole cloth that advance their narrative.

If neo-Nazis were going to make a swastika on campus, it seems unlikely they would make it out of shit. They like the swastika! You don’t make things you like out of shit. When an artist made the Virgin Mary out of shit, it upset people who care about the Virgin Mary. When an artist made the Piss Christ, it upset people who care about Jesus. It wasn’t religious people who made those objects. If neo-Nazis were going to make something out of shit, they might have made a Star of David or something they hate. It just sounds like something a hoaxer would imagine a neo-Nazi would do–rather than something a neo-Nazi would actually do.

And I hope it is a hoax. I’d like to believe that such an incident never happened because I’d like to believe people aren’t so mean and racist. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

What’s wrong is going after people’s freedom of speech and/or accusing them of thought “crime” for using their critical thinking skills at a temple of knowledge. And anybody that can easily be so manipulated into descending to that level of stupidity should be called out and ashamed of themselves. Stupidity like that is why we invaded Iraq.

They’re living in a bubble. Of course they think they’ll get away with it. They have no concept of the real world. They truly believe right now that they are all powerful. It’s what they’ve been taught to believe, and no one has ever smacked them in the head with the reality stick, yet.

In some cases, it’s difficult to sort out the rumors from the actual instances of racism

All the racism that isn’t happening. This is the predictable result of the victim industry. When no bad guys can be found, they have to be invented.

That guy who made a “threat” 100 miles away is called a troll. The folks who told Payton Head to watch out for KKK are trolls. These fucksticks are not motivated by genuine racial animus, but because they get a kick out of sending these weenies into a panic. And the reaction was priceless, as expected.

Let’s think about the poopstika, for a second, and assume it was real. What kind of person can you envision who would create such a thing? A roided, tattooed skinhead who just really hates the blacks and happens to be a college student? Or a hoodie wearing stoner having a giggle with his fucktard buddies? The default assumption is astounding, but the victim narrative demands it.

I’ve been white almost my whole life. In theory all these racists should be so pervasive I run into them constantly. Being that so many people must be racist they should be able to confide this in me since chances are good I’m also racist. At least some should have tried.

But the number of actual racists I’ve met is incredibly close to zero, and outnumbered by the people who see racism where none exist by about 100 to 1, if not more.

Whenever I hear these claims of pervasive race issues I think they’re by default BS. I lived all over the U.S. and I’ve never seen this culture that people feel is so pervasive. It’s really no different than saying we’re surrounded by witches or devil worshipers where all the incidents typically were hoaxes.

I’ve seen it. But it was a hell of a long time ago in the rural south. These days? Very rare, when you would think, if you believe these college students, that we have suddenly been transported back to the days of racial segregation.

Well, I could have said I’ve seen it recently also, but you will see that if you’re whitey and go into the wrong neighborhood in Balmer. It doesn’t get much more racist than that. But that doesn’t count right? Outside of that, I really don’t see it these days, except for on message boards.

I suspect things have not gotten any better in places like Buffalo or Rochester – they are slowly spiraling down the drain. The economy is shit, crime remains through the roof, there is a lot of mistrust and little contact between “the races”. By which I mean you could live there and go years without even seeing a black or white person respectively. Knock on wood, but I have not seen or experienced anything similar in 20 years in NYC.

I think its important to note the way the Washington Post went out of its way to Narrative-Pump on this particular story, just as it was blowing up…

…basically, throwing everything possible it could find into a stew that somehow provided the semblance of rationality to the whole thing.

Forget that the writer doesn’t bother to ever question the factual-shakiness of the actual individual ‘racial incidents’ – its the way they’re layered in carefully, one at a time, while dwelling at length on entirely separate issues like Missouri’s history as a slave-state, the significance of Ferguson, or a raft of other exaggerated incidents that have occurred elsewhere in the country (“Blackface parties”? really) ….as though this collage of grievance should somehow explain why *this University*, and none others in the region, suffers from such particular ‘racial’ strife…

Its pure propaganda-pumping. Which, as i understand it, is actually the job of some people’s blogging careers… but its really starting to cross the line where this sort of thing is seen as a REPLACEMENT for actual News Reporting.

It’s getting the scoop, getting the webzone hits and what not – the choice between “boring and true” and “exciting bullshit” has always been pretty easy. I’m getting less optimistic that people can adapt to the new journalism before more crap like this gets out of control.

Suggesting that someone stand up for himself, turn the other cheek, develop a thick skin, or do anything other than demand an end to free speech is dismissive of his FEELZ, invalidates his experiences and, of course, is racist.

“Caffeine is a powerful stimulant, unsafe amounts can cause adverse symptoms like increased heart rate and blood pressure and an overdose of caffeine can be fatal,” Schumer said in a press release. “We must avoid exposing our families and children to the potential harmful effects that consuming caffeinated food may lead to.”

I had totally believed up until this point that “The Space Invader”… was the *spaceship*… and HE was Invading the ALIEN planets in a campaign of imperialist conquest…. OMG I NEED TO DIGEST THIS… Paradigms Shifted….

Bwuhaha, this reminds me of an episode of The Beverly Hillbillies. The Clampetts hear a news story about a “surfer invasion” at California beaches. So they grab their shotguns and camp out on the beach to repel the “invasion”. Uncle Jed sees the “invaders” and peers at them through a spyglass; he tells the others that “they’re in funny little boats that don’t have no backs or sides”.

If they are not willing to make up stuff, lots of stuff, then how do you think their movement is going forward? Are they supposed to wait for the real KKK to stage invasions full scale invasions of college campuses? Are they supposed to wait for a real rape epidemic with white frat boys raping coeds in broad daylight?

If you give in to bullies whiny pussies, they win.The only way bullies whiny pussies are defeated is by standing up to them. If we cancel the exam life, they win; if we go through with it continue living, they lose. I know which side I’m on. You make your own choice.

Seriously, I hope that we find out in a few weeks that this whoole episode has been an attempt at the Guinness World Record for “Largest Work Of Performance Art In The World”. Because anything short of that will make me wonder if we, as a society, can survive these fucking imbeciles.

Life is sometimes hard, fuckheads. My daughter isn’t even three and she’s got a scar from her chest to below her belly. There are children with debilitating illnesses and injuries. People have REAL FUCKING PROBLEMS that it takes more to overcome than to ignore an offhand remark. Grow the fuck up, join humanity and make something of yourselves. If you don’t want to do that, crawl in a fucking hole and blow your brains out. The world will be better off without you.

I really do hope these assholes crawl in holes and blow their brains out. I hate each and every one of them. They’re probably going to have an impact on the future education of my kids. And that thought will make me wake up in a cold sweat.

And just to be clear, there is no racial bigotry here. I do not look down on niggers, kikes, wops or greasers. Here they are all equally worthless. And my orders are to weed out all non-hackers who do not pack the gear to live in my beloved world. Do you maggots understand that?

” In some cases, it’s difficult to sort out the rumors from the actual instances of racism; no one wants to seem skeptical of, or indifferent to, acts of intolerance against minorities, who shouldn’t have some unreasonable burden to prove their pain is valid.”

I read this and thought Rico Suave.

If you’re experiencing “pain” from an unverified allegation, sorry, we should investigate the allegation no matter how much it hurts your feelings, to make sure we’re acting on a true report and not on some BS made up by Dame Rumor or concocted for “social justice” purposes.

“” no one wants to seem skeptical of, or indifferent to, acts of intolerance against minorities, who shouldn’t have some unreasonable burden to prove their pain is valid.”””

These are 2 different things being conflated

” no one wants to seem skeptical of, or indifferent to, acts of intolerance against minorities, “

Of course. However “acts of intolerance against minorities” should first be demonstrated *to actually exist*

“…minorities, who shouldn’t have some unreasonable burden to prove their pain is valid.””

I don’t see how anyone is asking for a different standards between minorities OR “majorities”

No one is being asked to “prove their pain”. Emotions are subjective and a matter of individual perceptions.

the “burden” (if it even deserves to be called that) is merely to apply some rational proportionality between the cited “acts” of bigotry being claimed (and which should at least be first *demonstrated* to have actually happened) and the demands being placed on 3rd parties by the aggrieved parties.

I don’t doubt “some people’s feelings” were very hurt by a poop-swastika. I grant them every right to their hysterical over-reaction and weepy self-flagellation. More Power to Them.

The “Problem” is when they start making DEMANDS ON OTHERS over the stupid fucking Poop Swastika, and insisting its mere existence is sufficient to give them the power to overturn the entire operation of a public university.

What I am looking for isn’t that they “prove their pain.” I am looking for them to prove that their pain has some non-insane basis.

You’re a bigger man than me. Because I’m looking for them to completely fuck off, get over themselves and join the real world where cruelty often exists and nobody is entitled to anything based on feelings.

In some cases, it’s difficult to sort out the rumors from the actual instances of racism; no one wants to seem skeptical of, or indifferent to, acts of intolerance against minorities, who shouldn’t have some unreasonable burden to prove their pain is valid.

I am most certainly skeptical of anything that is not substantiated by evidence, regardless of whether its an “act of intolerance” or a fucking “murder”.

And frankly, I don’t care if their pain is valid or not. Because unless its physical pain (that has been directly inflicted upon them by another person intentionally) or it involves a loss of property through deliberate theft or destruction, THEN THERE IS NO FUCKING CRIME INVOLVED AND ITS NONE OF MY FUCKING BUSINESS.

Fifty-six percent of persons arrested in Columbia for aggravated assault are Black. Fifty percent of arrestees for rape are Black. Fifty-nine percent of arrestees for simple assault are Black. Two-thirds of arrestees for robbery are Black. Thirty-nine percent of arrestees for larceny are Black. Forty-seven of arrestees for fraud are Black. One-hundred percent of arrestees for murder are Black. (One murder) Fifty-seven percent of arrestees for arson are Black. (All data 2015 to date.)

The greatest risk to Mizzou’s Black students is almost surely same-race crime.

Re: “One of the incidents that kicked off the protest against President Tim Wolfe in the first place seems increasingly dubious.”

This article should be updated to reflect the fact that the police report has been released publicly and confirms the “poop swastika” incident, as does the janitorial staff of the university. http://thefederalist.com/2015/…..ce-report/